Reading is my favorite past time. I enjoy opening a book and knowing that there will always be a new experience. My genre of choice is romance. Whether contemporary or historical, series or standalone. I love them all.

Beautiful Gilbert Bryant designs jewelry for the rich and famous, and he made his escape from his gossipy little hometown of Lavender Shores. However, with so many friends and family, he keeps getting pulled back. When he attends his best friend’s engagement party, Gilbert can’t help but sample one of the new men in town. It’s just some innocent—or not so innocent—fun. Nothing that will even cross his mind once he gets back to his everyday life.

Walden Thompson dreamed about living in Lavender Shores since he visited as a child. He finally gets his chance, and he embraces the opportunity to start over, to become someone new. He leaves both hurts and dangerous habits in the past, where they belong. When Gilbert crosses his path, Walden gives in to his baser instincts. He can indulge in the carnal pleasures this once and still be okay.

Their few hours together haunt Gilbert, the two-hundred-mile buffer from home no longer shutting out the past or the sexy man he left behind. Walden is just beginning to recover from the smoldering encounter with Gilbert when they are thrust together once more. This time, neither of them can walk away, no matter how hard they try. But when their pasts crash into each other as surely as the magnetism that pulls them together, walking away may be the only option.

Gilbert and Walden hooked up months ago, but neither have been able to forget the other. In this scene, Walden is visiting a near by hot springs and was in the process of getting ready to go home with another guy in order to wipe Gilbert from his mind. As fate would have it, Gilbert chose that very time to arrive at the hot springs, and stepped when he noticed what was getting ready and sent the stranger packing.

Walden’s brows furrowed. “That’s not the point. What are you doing here, in this pool?”

His tone was irritated, but I could swear it was more for show than anything. That he felt he should be annoyed. But I could also swear I felt the electricity radiating from his body, like he was barely containing himself from straddling my lap then and there. I wished he’d give in to that notion. As much as I’d decided I did have a thing for geeky hot, he looked as he had the first time I saw him. No glasses. Long, damp, dark blond waves around his face, droplets of water making their way over the pale skin of his shoulders and down his thick chest.

I shrugged. “You were about to make a mistake with that guy. I decided I should stop it.”

This time his irritation sounded more genuine. “Why would it have been a mistake? Not that it would be any business of yours if it was.”

“Because he isn’t me.” The words left my lips before I could stop them.

Walden flinched.

Shit. There was only one course of action to play this off without letting him see how much I’d been thinking about him. Luckily, that course wasn’t a lie, just not the entire truth. I scooted closer, close enough to touch him, but I wasn’t going to. I was already giving away too much about myself. He was going to touch me first. “Because if you’re going to get fucked tonight, it needs to be with someone who can do it right, give you what you want, give it to you the way you need it.” I cast a glance toward the man, who was still staring at us, enjoying my victory over him more than was decent, I was sure. “Because he sure as hell couldn’t satisfy what I know you crave.”

Walden shivered, and his lips parted. Though his mouth moved, no words came out, and he licked his lips. He wanted me. Wanted me so fucking much.

I wished he wanted me more than I wanted him. Hell, I wished I could even lie to myself enough that I’d believe that. But even I wasn’t that good at self-deception. There’d been countless men since December. And each one managed to possess some aspect of Walden. And not one of them measured up to the real thing. I couldn’t let Walden see that, though. “Tell me I’m wrong. Tell me anyone can do to your body what I can do.”

I swear he almost touched me. I felt his hand move under the water, and I prepared for the contact I’d wanted for months. Then a shadow crossed his features, and he pulled his hand back. “And what is it you want from my body, Gilbert? Just to make you feel good about yourself?”

Confident businessman Joel Rhodes sees the small California town of Lavender Shores as nothing more than a business transaction and a final stepping-stone to the position he’s been working towards his entire life. It was supposed to be nothing more than one night in town to close the deal, and sleeping with one of the local men, no matter how gorgeous, meant nothing more than a few hours of fun.Andrew Kelly is perfectly content with the life he has in his hometown. So much so, that the only thing missing is someone to share it with. Going to bed with a tourist was never meant to be the answer to his dreams, just a beautiful distraction. He could get back to looking for Mr. Right the next day. Both Andrew and Joel’s worlds are turned upside down when a few hours of pleasure gets extended to a couple of days. Even that shouldn’t be a big deal. You can’t fall in love in such a short time, that isn’t how it works. However, if destinies collide, a few short days may be all it takes to find your soul mate. Even so, when secrets and motivations get tangled, destiny may do nothing more than leave two hearts in pieces.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Rosalind Abel grew up tending chickens alongside her sweet and faithful Chow, Lord Elgin. While her fantasy of writing novels was born during her teen years, she never would have dreamed she’d one day publish steamy romances about gorgeous men. However, sometimes life turns out better than planned.

In between crafting scorching sex scenes and helping her men find their soul mates, Rosalind enjoys cooking, collecting toys, and making the best damn scrapbooks in the world (this claim hasn’t been proven, but she’s willing to put good money on it).

She adores MM Romance, the power it has to sweep the reader away into worlds filled with passion, steam, and love. Rosalind also enjoys her collection of plot bunnies and welcomes new fuzzy ones into her home all the time, so feel free to send any adorable ones her way.